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By Nick Assinder - 12th March 2010
No prizes for guessing what the first question on every political journalist's lips is when meeting an MP at the moment: "Are you taking your pay rise?"
After the row over expenses, the recession and the government freeze on public sector pay, there is only one possible answer - you would think.
And a curt "mind you own business" probably isn't it.
Certainly they were falling over themselves on Question Time on Thursday night to insist they would not personally be accepting the £1,000 pay hike. Lib Dem Jo Swinson, Labour's Caroline Flint and Tory Justine Greening were of a single mind on this one.
The frontbenches of all three big parties have already "agreed" not to take the rise, which is the result of an automatic formula, calculated by an independent panel.
And David Cameron has said any of his backbenchers who accept it would have to forfeit it if they then went on to become ministers under an incoming Tory government. Which raised the question of why he would even consider giving a frontbench job to anyone who had caused the party embarrassment by taking it.
But what about backbenchers? The whips are apparently making the position crystal clear in their usual subtle way, suggesting in no uncertain terms that the leader and, perhaps more importantly, local parties will not look kindly on MPs who accept the cash.
And it seems the message has hit home. Any MP sitting on a dodgy majority - and that's probably most of them nowadays - is painfully aware of how much damage would be caused to their already wafer-thin credibility if they accepted the pay rise.
It would take considerable courage, or foolhardiness, for any MP to attempt publicly to justify accepting a pay increase, no matter how deserving they may consider themselves.
Dods Parliamentary Communications Ltd